Soils of the - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

-+~ - -w .
Location and Extent : Vye soils occur only in the Sumas Valley, mainly in the western part . About 540 ha of
re map units and 870 ha of soil complexes dominated by Vye soils are mapped . Most complexes are with
- tes . Vedder and Buckerfield soils .
pography and Elevation : Vye soils are gently undulating to undulating with slopes up to 5 percent .
ations generally range between 5 and 10 m above sea level .
Parent Material and Texture : Vye soils have developed from moderately fine to medium-textured lacustrin e
and mixed lacustrine and alluvial deposits usually at least 1 m thick and underlain by sand . Surface textures are
loam or silty clay loam while subsurface textures are mainly silty clay loam with minor variations to silty clay o r
loam . The upper subsoil has textures similar to the subsurface ; these gradually grade to medium or fin e
d below 1 m or more,
Plate 40 Landscape of the silty, undulating
lacustrine deposits of the Sumas Valley.
Imperfectly drained Vye and Fadden
soils are usual on the tops and slopes of th e
undulations while Vedder and Buckerfield
soils occupy the poorly drained intervening
depressions.
Soil Moisture Characteristics : Vye soils are imperfectly drained . They are ions and have
high water holding capacity and slow to moderate surface runoff. Temporary g
les occur in th e
per soil during the winter and after heavy, prolonged rains .
General Soil Description : Vye soils generally have a cultivated, silty, dark grayish brown surface that k
bout 20 cm thick and is moderately structured, firm to friable when moist and moderately hard when dry . It i°r
underlain by a partially leached, grayish-brown to brownish-gray, silty layer about 10 cm thick that is moderate, ,
blocky, firm when moist, hard when dry and contains common to many, tine to medium, yellowish-brow
"Mottles . This leached zone grades to a clay-enriched layer about 40 cm thick which is grayish-brow r
moderately prismatic, firm to very firm when moist . hard when dry and contains many, yellowish-red to dar e
reddish brown mottles . Clay flows are present on and in peds This zone then grades to gray or dark gray ,
;massive . silty material below about 70 cm that contains variable amounts of yellowish to reddish mottles Soi l
reaction gradually grades from strongly acid in the surface to medium or slightly acid below about 100 cm . So y
classification is mostly Gleyed Gray Luvisol although some Orthic Gleysols are also included in some slightl y
depressional, moderately poorly drained locations .
102 .